The L.S. Bumble Bee

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“Freak out baby, the bee is coming!”

The L.S. Bumble Bee, a single by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Decca F 12551, February 1967. Mistakenly included on some Beatles bootlegs in the Seventies, about which Dudley Moore commented:

Regarding The L.S. Bumble Bee, Peter Cook and I recorded that song about the time when there was so much fuss about L.S.D., and when everybody thought that Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds was a reference to drugs. The exciting alternative offered to the world was L.S.B.!, and I wrote the music to, in some ways, satirize the Beach Boys rather than the Beatles. But I’m grateful if some small part of the world thinks that it may have been them, rather than us!”

Listen to it here. And while we’re at it, “You fill me with inertia!

Previously on { feuilleton }
Joe Orton
The trip goes on
Albert Hofmann
Please Mr. Postman
All you need is…
Hep cats

7 thoughts on “The L.S. Bumble Bee”

  1. Hello John,

    David Kerekes writes some interesting words on this and other Beatles ‘bootfakes’ in the Headpress book LOVERS, BUGGERS & THIEVES. A quality song, as is the proto-punk classic Bedazzled. Dud may have had the talent, but Pete had the look and attitude (which more than made up for his own musical shortcomings). Surely there must be a compilation of their collected songs somewhere?

  2. Searching using google I came up with

    http://maxzook.wordpress.com/tag/peter-cook-and-dudley-moore/

    If you combine Pete & Dud’s wikipedia entries songs listed for them as being released are:

    “The Ballad Of Spotty Muldoon” (1965)

    “Goodbye-ee” (1965) Peter Cook and Dudley Moore

    “The L.S. Bumble Bee” (1967) Peter Cook and Dudley Moore

    “Song for Suzy” (1972) Dudley Moore Trio ? upbeat jazz.

    I wonder if there are any more?

  3. Hi Martin,

    It bewilders me anyone would mistake LS Bumble Bee for the Beatles. You’d think there was a collection of their singles but it seems not. I should have mentioned that LS Bumble Bee is available on the excellent 4 CD psychedelic collection, Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers. And the Bedazzled song is one of my favourite comedy moments ever. Total class, with the phasing and the dancing girls.

    Eroom: there’s more stuff listed on record collecting sites. If you search on Musicstack.com there’s loads of stuff there although it’s mainly the Derek & Clive period. A copy of the original LS Bumble Bee will set you back £50 (!) and there’s a very rare Bedazzled soundtrack album (£250!) that features the songs. Makes you wonder if the music was recorded in stereo.

  4. Thank you, Eroom. I’m sure the ethereal internet harbours all of Pete and Dud’s musical moments somewhere in its darkest places. I’ve seen various 7″ EPs on ebay for shocking prices. Harry Thompson’s excellent Cook biography also lists Isn’t She A Sweetie as Pete’s second single.

    John: Yep, got the 4-CD Mojo collection. Disk three is my personal favourite, seeing as P&D are sandwiched between two marvellous Kinks and Yardbirds tracks… and also that From The Underworld by The Herd is on there. An amazing song!

  5. There’s also
    “Isn’t she a sweetie” and “Lovely lady of the roses” although I think those two are mainly just Dud and not Pete.
    How Very Interesting: Peter Cook His Universe and all that surrounds it has a chapter on the LS Bumblebee where we learn that there was a rumour that Paul McCartney played one of the instruments on it. Not true but still nice to believe and probably why it appears on Beatles bootles. Some Rutles songs also appear on Beatles bootlegs occasionally.

    http://www.laurahird.com/newreview/howveryinteresting.html

    “the 1978 Beatles bootleg Indian Rope Trick included The Rutles’ “Cheese and Onions”, incorrectly ? and perhaps jokingly ? attributing it to John Lennon” from the Rutles Wikipedia entry.

  6. Ah yes, Bo Dudley…

    Martin: yeah The Herd song is fab, one of those amazing three-minute epics they seemed to do so often back then.

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